I’ve been riding/racing the same frame (Pinarello Razha K) for 5 years now and think its time to upgrade the frameset. I do a lot of Crit racing in the Northeast and think the Specialized Allez Sprint is an easy choice given its popularity and affordability.
I have been riding rim brakes the whole time and thought it would be easiest to swap all of the upgraded parts onto the new frameset. I’ve been watching the Specialized website as I know they sold through them earlier this year probably to those doing the same thing so I was planning on either waiting for them to become available again in the Fall after the “road season” (if it comes back) or when the 2021 models arrive.
As of today, I noticed they no longer show them on the site so curious similar to what they’ve done with their Tarmac and Venge models if they’re planning on going all-in Disc? I would think a frame so affordable and popularity among many crit racers that they would keep it available for both rim and disc.
Sent an inquiry to Specialized and waiting to hear back but curious if anyone has heard anything more about it
very interesting. I really would be a shame for that frame to lose rim brakes. But, could also possibly be them cleaning up the site as last time i was window shopping all sizes were sold out
A lot of the Specialized models are sold out right now around that price point and the next year’s models aren’t announced yet. I suspect they cleared the rim brake ones off the website because the inventory no longer exists (all sizes of last year’s complete build Sprint are sold out), but I also would not be surprised if they take the same route with the Tarmac and Venge in which they are heavily pushing disc brakes.
Specialized’s in a unique market position where they don’t really sell “budget” bikes where economics forces the use of rim brakes as a cost savings measure (e.g., the sub $700 market). I wonder if eliminating rim brakes entirely from their lineup could be a tooling and logistics cost-cutting play for them, as they don’t depend on rim brake compatible frames/components like Trek, which has a larger downmarket lineup.
Allez Sprint complete bikes aren’t on their page at all anymore and only disc brake frames are left. Can’t get a 105 equipped race bike for less than $2600 now… crazy town.
For sure! At some point it’s going to be impossible to find a mainstream race bike with rim brakes. I’m guessing there will always be rim brake frame available but they’ll likely be less than desirable for racing.
That being said it’s an interesting time to like rim brake bikes as used ones are worth almost nothing. There’s some really good value to be had on a almost new second hand rim brake bike right now.
So it looks like they released a new Sagan colorway for the Allez Sprint frame. By first glance it looks pretty much the same so to your point @mwglow15 they may just be waiting to finalize new colorways to release in the Fall
Just doesn’t make sense in 2020 to be going rim brakes if looking for a new bike. Sure you might have rims you want to use but the market has been moving on for a long time so it will eventually hit where rim brake frames are almost all gone.
Just a lot more benefits to getting disc. Glad I started the swap last year.
I did the same thing last year trying to sell off what I had before the market totally tanked for rim braked stuff. Was surprised how much it had. Now just my TT bike is rim braked. Telling myself no to upgrading that
I just purchased a disc brake allez sprint and am looking to sell my rim brake domane as a result. I think with how high demand for bikes are right now (and basically everywhere being sold out), I’m super lucky with selling at the moment. In fact, looking at BicycleBlueBook, the value of the bike has increased by more than $200 from the last time I checked like 6 months ago. Hoping I can capitalize on that in the coming weeks.
That said, if I don’t sell it soon, I suspect it will just be harder and harder to sell for the reasons you describe.
Cannondale haven’t gone ‘Specialized’ on us but those prices have crept up and spec dropped at the same time.
I bought a CAAD12 Ultegra 3 years ago for £1400 (with £75 cashback through a discount site).
The CAAD13 Ultegra is £1900 and although has direct mount brakes they have dropped the Spidering for FSA rings and the carbon seat post is gone for ally (major comfort killer).
it’s obsolete ya know.